Reliability Showdown: Nissan Titan Vs. Ram 1500 Vs. Toyota Tundra
Story by Gilbert Smith6 min read
Truth be told, you can't really go wrong checking with J.D. Power and buying whatever they say is worth buying. If they say it's user-friendly, then it's user-friendly. If they say it's reliable, then you can count on it. But, what do you do when there's a tie, and they name two vehicles as their favorite pick in a given category, as they did with the 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 and the 2024 Chevy Silverado 1500, both scoring an overall 82/100? Since those two trucks share a platform, you could always pick whichever one is cheaper, or just flip a coin.
But what if it's a three-way tie? The 2024 model Toyota Tundra, Nissan Titan, and Ram 1500 all earned an 81/100 overall rating for the year, and not only do these trucks not share a platform, there's no such thing as a three-sided coin. So we're going to have to break it down score by score, recall by recall, and complaint by complaint.
2024 Nissan Titan
Make Nissan
Model Titan
Base MSRP $46,040
Engine 5.6L V8 Gas
Horsepower 400 hp
Performance 8 / 10
Reliability 8 / 10
Safety 9 / 10
Value For Money 7 / 10
2024 Ram 1500
Make RamModel 1500
Base MSRP $39,420
Engine 3.6L V6 Gas
Horsepower 305 hp
Performance 9 / 10
Reliability 8 / 10
Safety 9 / 10
Value For Money 9 / 10
2024 Toyota Tundra
Make ToyotaModel Tundra
Base MSRP $39,965
Engine 3.4L Twin-Turbo V6 Gas
Horsepower 358 hp
Performance 8 / 10
Reliability 9 / 10
Safety 9 / 10
Value For Money 8 / 10
Safety, maintenance, and reliability data for this article has been sourced primarily from J.D. Power, the NHTSA, CarEdge, and RepairPal.
Tundra Vs. Titan Vs. Ram: Recalls, Reliability Ratings, And Complaints
While all three of these trucks share an overall score from J.D. Power, the quality & reliability ratings actually do leave us with a clearer idea of which truck the consumer watchdog group considers to be the best of the bunch. We could call it a day right there, but the picture isn't really complete until we look at NHTSA recalls and complaints per thousand units sold.| Model | 2024 Toyota Tundra | 2024 Ram Truck 1500 | 2024 Nissan Titan |
|---|---|---|---|
| J.D. Power Overall Rating | 81/100 | 81/100 | 81/100 |
| J.D. Power Quality & Reliability Rating | 82/100 | 89/100 | 81/100 |
| Total Number Of NHTSA Recalls | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| NHTSA Complaints Per 1,000 Units Sold | 0.3 | 0.038 | 0.2 |
One of the most telling statistics here: the Ram 1500 tallied up 21 complaints with the NHTSA, but it sold 539,477 units in 2023. The Toyota Tundra chalked up around twice as many complaints with about one quarter as many sales, at 125,185. The Nissan Titan comes in with the fewest number of complaints, at just four, but that's an easy number to maintain when you only sold 19,189 trucks last year. All told, the Ram 1500 comes in with just over one tenth the Tundra's complaints-per-thousand rate, and the Titan takes a distant second place.
Among the most worrying recalls is an unexpected vehicle movement recall for 280,663 Toyota and Lexus units, owing to faulty ECU software. The Ram 1500 was included among 1,227,808 models under the Chrysler brand with faulty electronic stability control, as well as a recall for 38,164 models under the Stellantis banner with defective airbags. The Titan was recalled for airbag issues twice, but in very, very low numbers, with one being for 351 Nissans with airbags that could fail to deploy due to moisture exposure, and another one for just seven Titans with faulty airbag control units.
This time, the problem is software-related and could cause a crash if you're not accustomed to using your mirrors when backing up.
The Ram has the most impressive complaint ratio and the highest quality & reliability rating, but the most worrying recalls. Bear in mind that recalls aren't the be-all-end-all of what might be wrong with a vehicle, it's just what we've been able to find that's wrong with the vehicle. If the Titan and Tundra were selling in the half-million unit range, they might be affected by massive airbag recalls, too.
Which Of These Three Trucks Is The Cheapest To Maintain?
Recalls, ratings, and NHTSA complaints can be sort of abstract. If your VIN isn't affected by an ECU recall, for instance, then what's it got to do with you? Where we really feel a vehicle's reliability is in our wallets. Some models are relatively cheap to maintain, others are money pits. What do these things cost to keep running?
| Model | 2024 Toyota Tundra | 2024 Ram Truck 1500 | 2024 Nissan Titan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Maintenance Cost Estimate (RepairPal) | $606 | $691 | $555 |
| Ten-Year Maintenance Cost Estimate (CarEdge) | $6,923 | $18,469 | $9,116 |
| Most Expensive Common Repair (RepairPal) | Exhaust Muffler Replacement $1,308 - $1,321 | Alternator Replacement $774-$1,042 | Camshaft Replacement $2,184 - $2,453 |
It's pretty easy to pick a winner here, right? The Nissan Titan costs the least to maintain on an annual basis, but the Toyota Tundra ultimately has you paying less after ten years. The Ram 1500 actually costs less than average to maintain on a year-to-year basis, at $691 compared to an average of $936 for the fullsize pickup segment, and it averages 0.2 unscheduled repairs per year to 0.3 for the segment. But, after ten years, CarEdge estimates a 54.80% chance of a major repair, compared to a mere 18.51% chance for the Tundra, and 25.58% for the Titan.
Essentially, the Ram 1500 has a one-in-two chance of needing some expensive work done in the first decade of ownership. It's the same deal as, for instance, luxury sedans, like the Mercedes-Benz S Class. It's a very reliable vehicle, but when something does break, it's very expensive to fix.
Meanwhile, the Tundra is the most dependable in this category, with a one-in-five chance of an expensive repair in the first decade, and the Titan is a close second, at one-in-four. This round goes to the Tundra.
We've named the Nissan Titan as the overall most reliable pickup of the last decade, followed closely by the Silverado 2500 and the Ford Ranger, but, for 2024, and for the full-size light-duty category, the Toyota Tundra ultimately comes in as the most dependable of these three pickups for the model year based on available data. Complaints are few, NHTSA recalls are relatively minor, and it is by far the cheapest of the bunch to maintain, with fewer, and less severe, unscheduled repairs.
When considering reliability ratings for current-year models, you need to take into account that these vehicles aren't as road-tested as older models, so these are estimates based largely on data pulled from previous model years. This is to say that there could be issues lying in wait under the hood of any of these vehicles, changes made to the 2024 model year resulting in problems that simply have yet to rear their ugly heads
That said, the current-gen Nissan Titan dates back to 2016, with a 2020 refresh, the Ram 1500 dates back to 2019, and the Tundra is the baby of the bunch, with the third generation model having launched in 2021. So, considering that each model is part of a generation that's already been on the road for four, six, or eight years, it can safely be assumed that the automakers have ironed out all of the major kinks by now, and this assumption would be supported by the fact that none of these trucks have more than three recalls on file.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/aut...S&cvid=56a165624bd64a0cb6a9f36ac83721a8&ei=42
